


If You Could See Us Now (You'll Know These Were the Best Times of Our Lives)

by jiminochu



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, But you'll also get the romantic fluff and angst too, F/F, F/M, Focus on Friendships, M/M, the only kind of drama is typical college drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-12
Updated: 2015-06-07
Packaged: 2018-03-22 06:19:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3718309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jiminochu/pseuds/jiminochu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A bunch of interconnected oneshots of the gang in college.</p><p>Chapter 1 - Clarke is addicted to coffee. Bellamy works at the best coffee shop in town.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which Clarke Arrives at Ark University

**Author's Note:**

> Before you start reading, I'd just like to say that I honestly have no idea how many chapters this is going to end up being. However, I do hope you enjoy the ride regardless. I'll do my best to keep the chapters chronological, but I'll probably write them as inspiration hits. The timeline of when each chapter takes place will be in the notes before the beginning of that oneshot. Some of them might be specific, like this one, others could be just a general time within the semester.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke is addicted to coffee. Bellamy works at the best coffee shop in town.
> 
> 1st Year - First Day of Fall Semester

            Clarke Griffin is a coffeeholic.

            There she said it, but really it’s all Wells’ fault for this and if he hadn’t been the one who introduced her to the wonders that was coffee during their junior year of high school, then maybe she wouldn’t be this addicted. Maybe. There was also the possibility of her finding out about it on her own but it was just so much more fun to put the blame on her best friend. After all, he still blames her for the time _he_ ended up eating dirt on the soccer field when obviously he tripped on his own two feet when she scored that winning goal. And no, she was nowhere near him when it happened, she swears.

            Regardless, Clarke’s first mission upon arriving at the quaint college town known as TonDC was to find its best coffee shop. She’d already Yelped it and everything and was delighted to find that there was one not too far from campus. In fact, it was just ten minutes walking distance from the dorms and in addition to that, it had better Yelp reviews than the best one around Wells’ college campus. Suck on that, Jaha.

            But of course, she had to move in all of her belongings into her dorm room first before she could go exploring. Her mom had decided not to come because of her ever so taxing job (was she being too sarcastic) and so Wells was the only one who ended up volunteering to help her move her things up to the 4th floor of her hall.

            The process could’ve gone much quicker if he weren’t complaining as much.

            It also didn’t help that the line for the elevator wrapped around the entire building, and so Wells and Clarke opted to take the stairs instead.

            “How many art supplies did you bring, Griffin?” he groaned, finally making it up the final step. “I swear you have at least six different boxes and I’m betting four of them consist of paint, paintbrushes, and easels.”

            The two of them walked over to the beige door with the number 400 on it, and Clarke put down the box she was carrying to punch in the numeric code to unlock it. “Ha ha, very funny Jaha,” she said as they entered. “I’ll have you know that only three are filled with art supplies.”

            He scoffed and Clarke could practically feel him rolling his eyes at her. “Like that’s any better, Griffin.”

            Clarke merely shrugged her shoulders, a small smile appearing on her face as she led Wells through the small hallway of the suite. She had ended up getting a single for her first year, not wanting a potential roommate to mess with her belongings, especially her drawings. They were precious to her, and she didn’t need someone snooping around without her permission. Finally, at the end of the hallway, the two stopped in front of room 409, her new home for the next year. It may be bare for now, but by the time she was done with it, it would be decorated in drawings, paintings, and pictures that she held close to her heart.

            As she and Wells placed the final two boxes in the corner, she heard a knock on the door and turned to find a brunette around her height, a smile gracing the girl’s features. “Hi! You must be my new neighbor.” The girl brought her hand up in a small wave. “I’m Octavia. It’s nice to meet you.”

            “Clarke,” she said, walking over to the girl and putting up her hand for a handshake. “And it’s nice to meet you too.” Octavia took it, and the two girls smiled warmly at each other and Clarke couldn’t help but be grateful that Octavia didn’t seem too crazy. One could never hear too many horror stories about suitemates from hell. She motioned to Wells behind her and added, “This is Wells. Friend from home and helping me move in.”

            “Against his better judgment,” Wells teased and he waved his hand at Octavia.

            Octavia nodded her head in greeting at him and crossed her arms, leaning against the doorframe. “Wish I had someone helping me out. My brother did for a while, but then he had to go work. He did say he’d be back later on when he finished his shift, so maybe you guys can meet him.” Octavia sounded extremely excited about this and Clarke couldn’t help but smile along with her. From the way Octavia spoke about her brother, no matter how briefly, he sounded like a really good guy.

            “That sounds great,” she replied, bringing up her hand and using her thumb to point over at Wells as she added, “This guy has to leave soon though. Says he wants to get started on studying so he’s gonna head back to Mount W University in a bit.”

            Octavia’s jaw dropped, and her eyes widened slightly. Clarke did her best to hold in her laugh at the sight, but she couldn’t blame the girl for her disbelief. “Wait, but didn’t you guys just finish week one? You have stuff to study already?” Octavia asked, eyes still bugged out.

            “Of course! It’s never too early to get started is what I always say,” he responded defensively. Wells had always been the studious type. Clarke was too, but mostly because of her mom whereas Wells actually enjoyed watching CSPAN and reading his poli sci books. It still baffled her to this day. “But speaking of, Clarke, we should get going before I have to leave.”

            “Oh yeah!” Clarke said, snapping out of her thoughts. Grabbing her wallet from her desk, she turned back to the brunette and waved. “It was nice meeting you, Octavia.”

            Octavia took that as her cue to leave and she moved away from the doorframe, bringing up her hand in return. “You guys too. You should also tell your friend that he seriously needs to get a life.”

            “Hey, I am right here you know,” Wells pointed out. “And I do too have a life.”

            “Pft, not in my book you don’t. I’ll see you later Clarke,” and with one last wave, she made her way back into her room and closed the door, presumably to continue unpacking.

            Clarke turned to see if Wells was ready, only to find him grimacing over at Octavia’s door. “Well she was nice.”

            She only chuckled in response, shaking her head at her best friend. “You just don’t like her because she insulted you. And by the way, she was totally right. You really don’t have a life, Jaha.”

            “Do too!” he yelled, closing the door behind them as they made their way out of the suite and toward the exit of the building.

            Despite Wells’ growing frustration over the matter, Clarke was in an exceptionally good mood because not only did she just make a friend, but finally, it was time for coffee.

 ---

            Upon entering the establishment called 100 Roasts, Clarke’s nose was assaulted with the fresh smell of coffee grinds and she couldn’t help but sigh in happiness. It was one of those places where you knew after a long day of studying inside, you would exit with the smell of coffee clinging to your body and Clarke absolutely loved that. She just hoped the coffee here tasted as good as it smelled.

             As she looked around, it was small and quaint and from what she saw on Yelp, not many people knew of it because of the Starbucks that was conveniently placed on campus, but the modernized vibe and the large chalkboard menu already helped her feel like she was at the perfect spot to buckle down and study.

            “Hi, how can I help you?” a deep, gruff voice broke through her thoughts and she turned towards the counter, mouth opening slightly at the sight.

            Oh my god, Clarke thought to herself. The guy standing behind the counter was definitely hot, to say the least, with curly dark brown hair and brown eyes anyone could get lost in. A charming smile greeted her and from where Clarke was standing, she could see a small dimple and a gorgeous amount of freckles adorning his features. Right now though, her mission was to find the best coffee to taste test at this store and so she walked up to him, placed a hand on the counter, tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear, and answered, “I guess that depends on what you would recommend.”

           Okay, so she was totally flirting with the hot barista, but could you really blame her when he was this attractive. She could just imagine Wells rolling his eyes at her from behind, but Clarke was running on pure instinct at this point.

            Bellamy, as his nametag read, pursed his lips, brows furrowing in thought. Clarke’s eyes zoned in on his lips and she watched as he licked them and wet her own in return. Holy shit was he attractive. She snapped out of it when he turned to grin back at her and she did her best to act like she wasn’t just imagining his lips on hers. “I would say you should go for our Ethiopian or Vietnamese blend. My personal favorite is the Ethiopian. We do have other kinds, but as we all know the rest just really don’t compare, _especially_ the Colombian.”

            Clarke’s grin slipped away from her face as quickly as it came and from behind her, she could hear Wells faintly mutter an “oh no.” After all, if you took two coffee connoisseurs with extremely different opinions and put them in the same room then shit was going to go down. This was definitely one of those moments.

            “Exc _use_ me? The Colombian blend is one of the best, if not the best blend of coffee there is. It’s sweet, smells amazing, and has the perfect amount of acidity to it,” Clarke told him matter-of-factly, eyes narrowed with her chin raised and her arms crossed, daring the barista to go against her.

            Obviously he didn’t get the hint because he scoffed in her face, bringing his own closer to hers in response to her challenge. “Maybe someone who hasn’t fully tasted the richness and the bold flavor of the Ethiopian blend would say that. But as someone who actually knows coffee, I’ll have you know that the Colombian is simply too acidic and just not bold enough to match up to any other kinds of roasts out there.”

            Clarke straightened up even more, hands coming to clench the side of the counter in frustration. “Maybe it’s just too acidic for you because you messed up your own taste buds drinking the wrong kinds of coffee.”

            The barista narrowed his eyes even more at her if that were possible, and if Clarke wasn’t so angry, she would have noticed that they were getting exceptionally close to one another, but she was too damn indignant to care. “You probably don’t even know coffee very well, do you? I bet you go to Starbucks and get their blonde roast. It’s probably why you had to ask me for a recommendation instead of knowing what you want yourself.”

            Her eyes widened at the jab, jaw opening slightly as she breathed in deeply to calm herself. She was not going to cause a scene inside a potential coffee shop no matter how insufferable this _Bellamy_ was. “You did not just say that.” By this point, her body was tense with anger and she could feel the adrenaline pumping through her system.

            A smirk found its way onto his face as he leaned in even closer and whispered harshly, “Well what’re you gonna do about it, Princess?”

            Her reply was immediate and just as harsh. “I’m going to fucking order a Colombian, Bellamy.”

            She could feel his breath on her face as they stared at one another, neither backing down. Clarke thought back to those stories telling of electricity flowing through a person’s body at intense standoffs, and she couldn’t help but equate this to that.

            And then suddenly, it was broken.

            Wells coughed into his hand and it was just enough to cause Clarke to close her eyes, leaning back and away from the arrogant bastard.

            “Tch, typical,” she heard him say as he rang her up. She merely handed him the amount shown on the screen and turned away so that Wells could finally order.

            But before he could, Clarke whirled around and added, “Oh, and don’t call me Princess.”

            She sneered at him once more for good measure before going to the pick-up counter. However, she could’ve sworn she heard “Too late, Princess” come out of Bellamy’s mouth derisively as she walked away.

           ---

            The trek back to her dorm was silent for the most part, Clarke still steaming over her most recent encounter with the now not as hot barista. Honestly though, the nerve of the guy to argue with her within the store. And wasn’t the customer always supposed to be right? She glared off into the distance, wishing that she could glare daggers into him instead.

            “So I can safely guess you’re never going back there again?” Wells asked, peering at her in slight concern. It made Clarke feel a little guilty. Wells never liked silence, even if the other party may have deemed it a “comfortable” silence. And yet here she was spending the last few minutes with him before they would part ways stewing over some idiot guy. Clarke sighed, sipping on her coffee as she glanced over at her friend.

            “Normally, yes,” she responded, grumbling slightly when she continued, “But this coffee is probably the best I have ever had in my whole entire life. So, I think I can deal with one arrogant barista every once in a while. Hopefully, he doesn’t work on the weekdays when I need to study, but even if he did it shouldn’t be too hard to ignore him.”

            Wells nodded, brows raised like he always did when he didn’t believe her. She decided it wasn’t worth it to push it for now. “All right, but just try not to get yourself thrown out of another coffee shop again, Griffin.”

            “Oh come on,” she shoved him in the arm with her own, “that last guy deserved what he got okay?”

            “Okay, okay!” Wells laughed in response, arms raised in the air as if to surrender. He shook his head and Clarke felt her mood lift again. God she’d miss her best friend, but she could understand why he didn’t want to attend Ark U. She wouldn’t either if the chancellor was her parent.

            They continued to banter along the way, and when they reached the entrance to her dorm, Clarke turned and hugged him tightly, already missing Wells.

            “Thanks again for helping me out, Jaha.”

            “Not a problem, Griffin.”

            She let go of him, stepping back and smiled tightly. They weren’t the type of people to say heartfelt goodbyes and they both knew it. Instead, they nodded at one another, knowing this wouldn’t be the last time that they’d see each other.

            “Don’t miss me too much now,” Wells said as he turned to leave, and she knew that it was his way of attempting to get in the last word.

            Tch, not on her watch.

            “As if, Jaha. And same goes for you!”

            She could hear Wells’ laugh grow dimmer and dimmer as he walked away and Clarke breathed in deeply, her head turning to stare up at the tall dorm building.

            This was it, she thought to herself. A new chapter begins.

 ---

            Later that night, Clarke sat on one of the stools she had brought from home, her hand stroking the charcoal back and forth onto the canvas in concentration. A lot of the times, she wasn’t sure what she was about to draw until she was about a quarter of the way through, merely letting her inspiration and her hand guide her through the process.

            Dinner had been an interesting occurrence as the RA, Clarke believed her name was Roma, had called for a floor dinner so that everyone could get to know one another. Octavia couldn’t go for some reason or another, and Clarke really did want to try to get to know her peers, so she figured she’d go. It wasn’t particularly memorable, though she did remember two boys creating quite the ruckus over an app that one of them had apparently invented, but she tuned them out in attempt to get to know the other girls in her suite. They were all really chill, which Clarke was extremely happy about. She especially enjoyed talking to Monroe and Fox about the most recent football season as they all shared that interest in common. Overall, Clarke surmised that her first day at Ark U wasn’t so bad after all if you disregarded the small mishap at 100 Roasts.

            Clarke sighed, placing the piece of charcoal down onto the easel and made her way towards the door. The one thing she could do without at college was the whole public bathrooms scenario, but she was thankful that it wasn’t a public bathroom for the entire floor but just for the suite itself. Exiting her room, Clarke found that the door across from her was open, which probably meant that Octavia was back.

            Turns out, Clarke was right as Octavia peered outside at the sound of Clarke closing her door behind her. “Oh Clarke!” Octavia smiled brightly, flagging her down. “I wanted you to meet my brother. Clarke this is – ”

            But Clarke didn’t need Octavia to finish that sentence as her brother stepped out of the room and stared down at Clarke with probably just as much shock as Clarke portrayed on her own face.

            She could feel her heart and jaw drop at the same time as she took in the same curly dark brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles that she had seen earlier that day.

            “Bellamy?!”

            “…Princess,” he breathed out.

            What were the fucking chances.

            “Do you two know each other?” And if Clarke weren’t so distracted, she would’ve seen Octavia eyeing them suspiciously.

            “We just…met.”

            “Yeah…”

            They responded at the same time.

            Her eyes stayed locked on his and Clarke wasn’t sure if they were partaking in a staring contest or if they were just too surprised to look away. Later, she would reason it out to being the former instead of the latter, but at that moment, she simply couldn’t fathom it.

            “Well this should be interesting,” she heard Octavia say in the background, and Clarke couldn’t agree more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter - In Which Monty and Jasper Blow Up Mbege


	2. In Which Monty and Jasper Blow Up Mbege

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick guide in what not to do when you don't have access to alcohol.
> 
> 1st year - four and a half weeks into the first semester

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the lateness! School ended up kicking my butt (and still is for that matter) and I got writer's block at one point but was able to finish this up on the train instead of studying for my finals! Quick disclaimer is that I honestly have no idea how to make moonshine and I have no idea what the specific mechanism carbonation entails. I'm also pretty sure moonshine has already been carbonated before. Monty was so fun to write though so I hope you enjoy this chapter!

In Which Monty and Jasper Blow Up Mbege

 

When in college, one must drink and party like it’s 1985.

Monty wasn’t exactly sure why it was specifically 1985 and not any other general year, but Jasper had literally been screaming the above quote since the moment they received their admission letters into Ark University (to which they were both extremely over-the-moon ecstatic about because hell yes not even college could separate the best brothers from different mothers). Was he concerned that Jasper wanted to go insanely crazy, one may ask? No, not at all. Besides, it was college and when else would they get the chance to completely let go and break all the rules?

Unfortunately, they were still first years. And even if they did find someone to buy alcohol for them, they had no money. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Bank accounts? Yeah right, did you mean dust collectors?

Anyways, because of the clear lack of alcoholic substances they had access to, he and Jasper had come up with the perfect, most brilliant plan in the whole world ever: they would make their own alcohol. Moonshine to be precise.

How would they do this you ask?

Well, let’s just say Jasper was majoring in chemistry and Monty was majoring in bioengineering.

…

Well the bioengineering doesn’t have too much importance in moonshine making, but Monty was pretty damn good at it from watching his parents make their own all day long for the store. So! Their plan was basically foolproof. You know so long as Roma didn’t walk in on an impromptu inspection, but their RA didn’t seem like the type of person who would do that so Monty was pretty confident to think that they would be in the clear for the most part.

But anyways, moonshine!

In order to make the best moonshine to ever be made, of course he and Jasper would have to change things up a bit. Mess around with the recipe, if you will. They couldn’t just stick to the normal process. They were going to be inventors one day and as an inventor, you must start somewhere big and bold.

Monty wanted to see what would happen if they lengthened the distillation process. Maybe the moonshine would come out sweeter and more alcoholic.

Jasper, on the other hand, had a different idea.

“Carbonation!”

Monty’s brows furrowed, whipping his head to look over at his best friend’s. “You want to carbonate the moonshine?” he asked slowly, making sure he heard right.

And of course, Jasper was giving him that look again: the I-just-got-a-brilliant-plan-and-there’s-nothing-anyone-can-say-to-stop-this-from-happening look.

Monty only grinned at that and he looked at the ingredients laid out between them and then back at Jasper. “This is going to be the best moonshine created in the history of the world!” he exclaimed, signaling the time for another secret handshake moment to which the two of them perfectly did at the same exact time (something that took them ages to get down but oh man was it worth it).

\---

One month later and they were finally done.

Well, technically they were done with making moonshine, but not _carbonated_ moonshine. _That_ needed just a few more minutes in the fridge. In fact, they had already tucked it into a nice little spot in there, hoping and praying that all would work out. There were probably days where he and Jasper didn’t even sleep because they were so pumped about this. Not only would they be able to say that they were able to make the first ever carbonated moonshine, but they could drink it too! They’d also be actual bonafide geniuses! Well, technically they already were geniuses but anyway, not the point!

The point was that during this whole internal monologue, which is a legit cool thing to do, the moonshine should be complete!

“It’s done!!” he and Jasper exclaimed at the same time, fumbling over each other as they raced towards the common area’s fridge. Jasper’s hand grabbed onto the latch, opening it in such a flurry that it almost sounded like the hinges would give way. There was just too much excitement to contain as he and Jasper peered into refrigerator.

…

Only to find that their inconspicuous mason jar was no longer inside.

“Uhh Jasper,” Monty said, lips pursing in apprehension. “…what happened to our jar?”

“Uhhhhhhhh…..” Jasper’s mouth opening and closing made him look as if he were a fish out of water, but Monty wasn’t even paying attention enough to make fun of it because he was pretty damn sure he was making the same exact expression.

Where did their jar go??? It couldn’t have just walked off. They had even labeled it!

…wait a minute.

“Jasper! Did you forget to label the jar again?!” Monty asked, shooting him a ‘come on man!’ look that he’d perfected by the time they were 7. Really, this wasn’t even the first time Monty had counted on Jasper to do some last minute detail and he had forgotten about it because of quote unquote, reasons.

However, Jasper was shaking his head rapidly, and Monty could sense easily that he was telling the truth. “No dude I swear. I put our names all over the jar! There’s no way someone would – ”

And then suddenly, an all-resounding roar shook up the floor (and probably the entire building).

“THOSE FUCKING DWEEBS!!!! I’M GOING TO KILL THEM.”

“…was that?”

“RUN!!!” Monty yelled, pushing Jasper up from his crouched position and slamming the refrigerator door shut as they immediately ran from the common room only to come across a very drenched, very purple, and very, very (did he mention very?) angry Mbege.

Monty wasn’t sure about Jasper, but his heart was beating 500 miles a minute and he gulped audibly (or was that just his brain enhancing his eardrums to make it sound as if the gulp was audible). From over Mbege’s shoulder, he could see Murphy coming up close behind his friend, confusion seeming to mar his features until a slow understanding and then a smirk finally settled on his face.

“You just had to write our names on the jar, didn’t you?”

“Shut up, Monty!”

“Hey,” he said, slightly taken aback. “Don’t tell me to shut up.”

“Uh, well I just did.”

“Well you didn’t have to be so rude about it.”

“What’re you going to do about it?”

“Oh I’ll tell you what I’m going to – ”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!!”

They did not need to be told twice as he and Jasper straightened up, bodies tensed as they waited with bated breath for Mbege’s next words.

“I. Am. Going to fucking MURDER YOU TWO!”

Monty leaned in slightly to Jasper murmuring, “I think it’s time to run again.”

“Seconded.”

And they took off like a torpedo was on their tails (which wasn’t very incorrect really because fuck, Mbege can run like a bullet train and his body was so not built for this).

“YOU LITTLE SHITHEADS WILL REGRET EVER MESSING WITH ME!!”

Was Mbege’s voice echoing all around them? Because it sure did sound like it was.

Terror seeped into his bones and Monty closed his eyes for a millisecond in consternation. Why him? Why Jasper? They were just trying to make advances in the scientific field for goodness sake!

“Too slow.”

Monty’s head whipped forward, only to find himself smacking into Jasper’s back with a loud umph. After finding his balance again, he looked up to see Murphy standing in front of them looking ever so smug.

(But seriously how the fuck did he end up in front of them?)

Right behind them was Mbege, cracking his knuckles and his neck with a sickening smirk on his face.

…

Did they just outsmart him and Jasper?

_No way_.

No that was impossible! There was absolutely no way that could have happened!

And yet, the fact that he and Jasper were slowly backing up against the wall between Mbege and Murphy told an entirely different story than what Monty had previously imagined.

“I am _so_ going to enjoy this.”

Mbege’s voice literally sent chills down Monty’s spine and he squeezed his eyes shut, hoping and praying for anyone to show up but it was a goddamn school day and people were in classes and my GOD WAS NO ONE GOING TO SAVE THEM?! Their RA maybe?! Someone?? Anyone?!?!

“What the fuck is going on here?!”

HIS PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!!!!

Monty opened his eyes.

…his prayers have been answered in the form of a tiny brunette.

But they have been answered nonetheless!

“Bug off Blake. These little fuckers messed with the wrong guy,” Mbege responded, still focused on pummeling him and Jasper to death probably if it were legal.

But thank goodness for Octavia Blake. Monty had heard of her here and there during the first few weeks on campus, but the girl in question was always out and about that there was never really time for him and Jasper to get to know her. Granted neither he, Jasper, or Octavia attended the floor meetings so really he couldn’t put the blame on other people for not getting the chance to know them. So did that make it his and Jasper’s fault? Quite possibly. They were pretty much recluses in every sense of the word, but not many could really keep up with them and – oh yeah that’s right.

He was in a middle of getting destroyed so this really wasn’t the right time for a soliloquy.

Maybe later. He should write this stuff down.

“Why don’t you leave the two dweebs alone, Mbege. Are you really going to fight two nerds who won’t even give you the proper challenge? Are you seriously going to stoop that low?” She stood there, ever so casual, weight shifted with her hip tucked to the side. Monty’s respect for the tiny brunette grew. Whoever up there knew that he would’ve straight up peed in his pants by now.

Mbege began seething, his thoughts surely switching between continuing in his rampage and stepping away due to his now bruised ego.

“I am standing here in some disgusting purple liquid and you’re honestly asking if I care whether or not these two fuckers will give me a challenge when I beat them to death?”

“Or maybe we should ask if you think it’s wise to get into a one-sided fist fight four and a half weeks into the semester.” Someone new came into the fray and Monty recognized her as Clarke Griffin. The floor anointed Golden Girl. Rumor has it that she actually knew the Dean on a personal level which pretty much made everyone look at her as if she got into the school because of connections rather than based on merit. Monty didn’t really bother with rumors very much, but anyone who was willing to stand up to Mbege was more than all right in his books.

Mbege scoffed, looking at Clarke with disdain and annoyance. “What’re you gonna do about it, Griffin? Tell the Dean on me?”

Clarke wasn’t fazed, eyes merely narrowing further at him. Man if looks could kill and all that jazz. “Well, according to everyone on this floor, I very well could. And are you really going to risk that, John?”

It was a battle of wills. Mbege and Clarke stared down at one another, neither giving up and Monty could practically feel the tension oozing from them both.

Seconds later (which were more like 100 years to Monty), Mbege let out a huff, turning around to leave, but not before making sure that he and Jasper knew that that he wasn’t done with them, literally by saying “This isn’t over” in the most menacing manner possible. Mbege turned the corner down the hall and Murphy (to whom Monty forgot was there because he’s so fucking quiet how the fuck) stared at them all for a bit longer before turning down the other hall.

The moment the two of them were gone, Jasper slumped down against the wall toward the floor and Monty looked up at their two rescuers gratefully.

“Thanks,” he breathed out, not trusting himself to say anything else in fear of actually fainting.

Octavia shrugged while Clarke stood behind her, arms crossed and just nodded her head in acknowledgment. “It’s no problem,” Octavia said, “We heard Mbege screaming and then we heard you two screaming and so we ran out to see what was going on.”

Were they screaming? Monty couldn’t really remember.

“And it’s a good thing we did. Mbege looked purple in the metaphorical _and_ literal sense. What were you guys doing?” Clarke stepped towards them, brows furrowed.

It was at that moment that Jasper decided to find his voice. He wearily stood up to the face the two girls, but let’s ignore the fact that his hand was still pushing himself up against the wall. “We were just trying to create the first ever carbonated moonshine,” Jasper said in what he hoped to be a strong voice, but all that came out was a meek tone.

It was silent for a bit, and Monty held his breath, unsure how they would react to that. Worst-case scenario, Clarke could very well report them to the Dean for doing something like this.

“What?!”

“That’s so cool!”

The two of them yelled at the same time.

“Octavia!”

“What? It is! Even you can’t deny that, Clarke.”

Monty’s positive that Jasper’s breathing just got slightly more erratic at that, his eyes making obvious heart eyes at Octavia. He could already imagine how many pillow talks they were going to have just focused on the incredible things Octavia did on that future day.

“I’m sure it’s been done before anyway,” Clarke shook her head, looking away as if dismissing them.

“What?! No way! Jasper checked every single link online about moonshine and I am positive that we are the firsts to ever even think about creating it!” Monty interjected, eyes narrowing in a playful manner and he swore he could see the smallest of smiles forming on Clarke Griffin’s face.

Octavia merely chuckled in response, and clapped her hands once to get all of their attention. “Anyways, I think now is a good a time as any to officially introduce ourselves. I’m Octavia! And this grouchy blonde here is Clarke.”

Clarke just sighed at that, as if that was their normal way of introducing themselves.

“Monty!” He raised his hand to clarify. “And this is Jasper. We’ve known each other since we were kids.”

“Do you always introduce yourselves like that?” Octavia asked.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Monty replied.  
“Well it’s nice to meet you guys.” She nodded, eyes twinkling with mirth. Monty could practically see the wheels turning in her head as her next thought made itself clear in her mind. “You know, I think this could be the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.”

And to that, Octavia got varying degrees of responses: infatuation from Jasper, confusion from Clarke, and from himself? Well, definitely something more akin to friendship than the other two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter - In Which Clarke and Octavia Attend a Party


End file.
